A robber broke into song in an Illinois court in a bid to get a reduced sentence – but he hit a sour note with the judge, who hit him with 12 years behind bars.

James Reid, 20, stunned Circuit Judge Annette Eckert in Belleville by belting out a gospel hymn that he composed himself, admitting he knocked over a Taco Bell restaurant and singing: “God has changed that man. I’m doing the best I can.” But his plea apparently fell on deaf ears.

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The fashion police are alive and well in Orange County Fla., where officials have banned government employees from wearing more than three earrings in each ear – and they have to be in the lobe, not the top.

Facial piercings and tongue studs are also not allowed because workers “can’t even speak well when they have their tongues pierced,” said County Commissioner Mary Johnson, 70.

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The city of Suffolk, Va., has booted its bad Santa.

While 47-year-old James Summerlin was very popular with the kids at City Hall, the cops weren’t too thrilled. Turns out that three years ago, Summerlin was convicted of calling in a bomb threat, and remains on probation.

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A Minnesota bank robber is definitely low-budget during his stick-ups – he uses a pencil to draw on a fake moustache, cops say.

But while he refuses to spend money on a proper disguise, the guy is doing pretty well in the crime department – already having struck eight times this year in the St. Paul area.

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Folks are tough as nails in Louisiana. And if you don’t believe it, consider the case of a man who was shot in the leg as he left a nightclub – and didn’t even realize he’d been hit until the next morning.

The unidentified victim admitted to cops that he had been drunk when he heard a loud noise, but otherwise didn’t feel a thing.